‘Opportunities’ for industry in $2bn cyber spend

The federal government has said there will be ‘significant opportunities’ for industry in a decision to invest $2 billion in a Top Secret (TS) Cloud.

The TS Cloud will be built in a strategic partnership between the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver resilient information, communication and technology (ICT) systems.

The TS Cloud builds on AWS’ planned $13.2 billion investment in Australian infrastructure to 2027 – the largest tech investment in Australia’s history, supporting the creation of 11,000 local jobs.

The government said in a statement that the joint initiative offered significant opportunities for Australian industry.

“It will see AWS engage Australian businesses to design and build the TS Cloud, driving innovation and job creation in cybersecurity, data analytics and cloud computing.

“Australia’s defence industry will see additional benefits with new opportunities to deliver and integrate new capabilities using these cloud services.”

Initially the TS Cloud will generate up to 2,000 local Australian jobs.

The Managing Director, Public Sector, Australia and New Zealand, for Amazon Web Services Iain Rouse (pictured) said: “AWS is uniquely positioned, as a trusted, long-term partner to the Australian government to deliver on this important partnership.

“This critical national security initiative allows AWS to demonstrate our commitment to not just deliver a fixed set of requirements, but to continuously adapt, enhance and innovate together over the years to come.”

The TS Cloud will be purpose-built for the intelligence community agencies to securely host Australia’s most sensitive information.

It will improve th ability to securely share and analyse the most classified data at speed and at scale, and provides opportunities to harness leading technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said: “This cutting-edge technology will enhance Defence’s resilience, improve the ADF’s warfighting capacity, strengthen interoperability with key international partners and deliver up to 2,000 Australian jobs.

“This significant investment is a reflection of the government’s sensible approach to prioritising the enabling capabilities our Defence Force needs in order to address the complex strategic circumstances we face.”

Picture: Iain Rouse